


wanderings

by emmamere



Series: a gathering of abnormalities (hxh) [1]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/M, Human/Parasite Relationships, Witchcraft, World Travel, no betas we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 19:07:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14315214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmamere/pseuds/emmamere
Summary: When witch-child Alluka first feels the grass beneath her feet, she knows that it is her destiny to wander.





	wanderings

The next time the prince slipped into the darkness of the dungeon, he had with him a small satchel. It was not for himself but for his sister, who had been awaiting his return in the morbid air.

She silently accepted the parcel, replacing her rags with the silky cloak that hung delicately on his arm. The girl then eyed the meager supplies he had been able to gather before reminding herself of her own prowess.

"This is for good luck and fortune," said Killua slipping a ruby-red amulet around her neck. "It belonged to Zeno, then to me, and now to you."

Alluka shook her head, reluctant to leave with such a gift. Her brother would have none of the protests. He insisted that their grandfather would support the idea, after which she relented.

Killua grasped the girl's shoulders firmly. "Now, you must leave before we are noticed. After some time, I'll join you outside of the palace."

She nodded faintly, opening her arms to embrace him. He leaned into her touch and kissed her pale forehead. Alluka knew that even her gentle fingers were yet another burden for the prince. 

So she bode him farewell, tightened the hood of the black shawl, and descended into the sewers, praying incessantly that she wouldn't be found - both for her own sake and his.

The cell was swiftly vacated behind her.

\---

Alluka awoke in a fright; the thick roots she had wrapped her limbs around seemed almost suffocating in the haze of sleep. But she was greeted with the pleasant surprise of mobility and open skies, marred only by a great green canopy.

She rose to her feet, then, giddily excited. Here she was, being frightened by tree roots of all things! The previous mortification was now hilarity.

A bird twittered. The child jumped in surprise before spinning around to see it.

Of course, Alluka had never seen anything like a bird, though she had heard of them perhaps a million times before. Killua littered his stories with mentions of the creatures.

She extended her arm tentatively, thinking that she could maybe coax it near, akin to a maiden in a fairy-tale. The avian did no such thing but she was pleased nonetheless when it did not fly away.

After a long period of time admiring her surroundings, Alluka began to wander through the woods in search of game. She hadn't the slightest clue exactly what to do with said game, but finding some would be a start.

A sudden bout of fortune; a lone buck, foreleg bent opposite of nature, was limping only ten paces from where Alluka stood. She crouched immediately as the buck swiveled its head.

She then tapped effortlessly into her reserve of magic, seeking its fruit for the first intentional time. With a low whooshing sound, too quiet for even the buck to notice, her facial features contorted into inky-black masses. 

Alluka allowed her sister to assume control, sinking deep into the realm of subconsciousness. The confirmation allowed Nanika to amass magical power into a single, colorless disk. The disk hovered above her milk-white palm, transparency occasionally brightening to streaks of burning light. 

Neither felt hesistance as Nanika directed the orb at the animal and struck with terrifying speed. Within milliseconds, Alluka regained possession once again, legs buckling in exertion just as the buck collapsed in death.

She shakily rose to examine the carcass, pleased to the flesh undamaged. This hadn't been her first kill, though the first committed with intent, but she located no guilt in bringing the crippled buck a painless death.

Alluka was by no means an expert in the field of cooking, but she had a vague idea of how to rightly approach consumption; using this theory she hastily assembled a woodpile adorned with a clumsy spit, impaling the buck on the spit and igniting the tinder with aid from Nanika.

She was a bit bothered by the creature's glassy eyes (it had died too suddenly for them to close) but decided to cope with the unease, as the problem lacked a viable solution.

Now bored, Alluka began to chat with her sister internally. She rubbed the amulet anxiously while doing so, seeking the safety she had within her palaced brother. After a few minutes of this, Nanika disengaged from the conversation and grew steadily displeased.

He won't come.

Alluka gasped and glared hotly, though at nothing in particular. The sun had begun to lower, which only worsened her mood.

"He will,"

The prince is relieved by our absence. He'll do no such thing.

The girl clenched her hands into fists at the claim. She hated when the witch spoke with such authority, especially when the matter was of one they didn't agree.

Alluka growled and began to push Nanika back into the abyss, unwilling to discuss it further; Nanika responded with an earsplitting shriek of anger.

"This is no democracy! Live in my body and live by my rules!" the adolescent shouted, mouth beginning to froth from the effort of defying Nanika. 

The witch, then, forced a dark spell onto the child mercilessly, desperate to escape the confines of the void.

The Zoldyck cried out in terror as waves of lament consumed her. She screeched as the featureless face ruptured her mental barriers and fought with frigidly cold fingers.

Only as Nanika stiffly withdrew, though, did Alluka cease her own attack, and she sobbed and convulsed in the dirt with the weight of it all.

"He'll come," she choked as the meat began to burn.

Nanika merely tittered disapprovingly. Her black eyes had regained their dusky hue. 

After you eat, find refuge in a tree. 

Alluka blinked questioningly.

We were lucky yesterday, but that amulet will not protect you from the wolves.

She desired to argue but found that the words had left her. Now mellow, she removed the meat from the spit, digging into it gracelessly. 

Alluka blanketed the leftovers and left them in the satchel, which was then hidden under her cloak. A few stamps later, the fire was gone as well.

Grudgingly agreeing with Nanika, she then boarded a tree - admittedly with a tinge of difficulty, having never done such a thing before. 

The two drifted off in petty silence.

\---

Six months later, there was still no Killua in sight, and Alluka had matured a bit. She could now call herself a young lady, being fourteen years of age, and her mentality had almost caught up as well.

She still never took to the road or marketplace. It was not due to fear of capture; the girl was aware that even her running away was not reason enough for the royal family to arouse a public search and bring the reality of their witch-daughter out into the limelight.

No, but Alluka did possess a genuine fear of the people, one that would motivate her to remain in the forests and mountains even as game dwindled or temperatures dropped.

Though, she supposed she couldn't help that some eccentric had planted their roots right on her imaginary path.

The forest-dwelling woman sat under a veranda that was little more than moss and stray thatching, and in a rickety wooden chair that seemed as aged as the highlands themselves. Her attire was of deep blue robes, her golden eyes wide and catlike. She had snow-white locks that hung vinelike over her cheeks; they were wispy and ethereal.

Alluka understood at once that this woman was very old, though she didn't look it and likely didn't feel it.

The woman smiled frivolously, exposing sharp white teeth. "And who might you be, my dear?" Her lilting voice purred into the teen's ears.

"Alluka, a traveler." 

A slight shake of the head - Alluka noticed, then, strings of colorful beads extending from the colorless hair. "Nya, you are more than that. You are like me - or, no, you have one like me within you."

She rose elegantly. The top of her head reached only Alluka's eyes.

"And who are you?" 

"Nya, my name is Neferpitou,"

Alluka bristled; it was an acutely Satanic name.

"and what I am is a witch, just like your parasite."

She prepared to flee with Neferpitou's words, but the witch merely chuckled cattishly.

"Do not fear, my child, I bear you no ill will. If anything, I have my skill to offer, nya."

Alluka blinked. "Pardon?"

Neferpitou tilted her head, beads jingling. "Would you like to be taught the ways of proper witchcraft, to further your abilities and ease my boredom?"

\---

Alluka faces her exam after two months of grueling education. She is gowned in the best of Neferpitou's talents, flowing finery of vibrant pinks and greens and reds. Her throat is still polished with the glow of her brother's amulet.

The older woman, clothed in her usual blue attire, purrs approvingly, raising a clawed finger to her lips. "Nya, I do suppose you are ready."

"And what am I to do?" questions Alluka.

Neferpitou narrows her yellow eyes in thought before replying with a curious cheer. "Why, how about you materialize your witch? You've never seen her in her truest, nya?"

She nods. "Only the face she wants me to see have I seen."

An encouraging gesture. Blue eyes look once more to the scene before them; sunlight filtering through the orange masses of leaves, then falling with them to the ground, spattered with the colors of autumn; the hovel of her wretched instructor, suddenly more glowing and pristine than ever before; and last, the spanning indigo of Neferpitou's robes as they ripple with the wind.

Alluka absorbs the image one last time, then returns to the oblivion within herself.

-

It had been a long while since the girl began to stare blankly that Neferpitou noticed the shimmering form beginning to develop on the outskirts of the clearing. Her mouth made a small 'o' at the realization.

Within the next minutes a solid image had been created. Alluka's eyes slowly refocused and looked to the senior witch, who was standing amused before an apparition. She then rushed over, recognizing in seconds the woman as the previous Nanika.

She was half a head taller than Alluka, with a dark, gothic gown that hung loosely over a willowy frame. Her eyes were black and lidded, though not nearly as dense as they normally appeared, and choppy ebony hair reached just below pale ears. Nanika was femininely attractive in a way that Alluka would have before found unfathomable. 

Alluka was just grasping for the delicate bow on her neck when she vanished in a split second. 

They eyed the empty air. 

"Well, it seems there's nothing left to teach you, nya." mewed Neferpitou. 

The girl turned gradually. "Yeah, I guess." The agreement was spoken softly, dazedly.

Neferpitou smirked. "Nya, must have been something, to see your beautiful sister for the first time."

Alluka smiled faintly. 

\---

It is several years later when Alluka meets the love of her life.

She had formatted a steady routine of wandering. Entering towns that appeared in travel only for festivals or the occasional bout of supplies. Talking with people was a rarity - though one she wasn't nearly as frightened of, now.

Alluka had just purchased a hardy new pair of walking boots in a rather large village by the name of Theinsford when a loud bell sounded through the town. She glanced up to find its source in a nearby cathedral, and its reason a commotion in the town square.

She bustled over, intrigued. The townspeople had become aggravated at whatever the spectacle was, and scrapped shouts quickly erupted. 

Alluka grew frustrated and was about to walk away when a voice, louder and of more authority than the rest, began to speak.

"--AND MAY THE ACCUSED PAY FOR HIS SINS IN THIS DEATH--"

Oh, dear. She could now see, as the crowd settled, the gallows prepared in the center of the square. The speaker - a duke, she recognized - stood on the platform, flocked by two soldiers. With another soldier was the prisoner, coarse hands shackled and head hanging low.

"--FOR THE DEMISE OF THE FORBIDDEN FORM HE PRACTICES--"

Nanika hisses angrily, flooding her host's mind with the experience she herself had suffered. Alluka coughs lightly at the sensation, chastising her sister mentally for calling upon the suffocation.

Girl, you should be sickened, the tyranny bound to us, to that boy!

He is dragged forcefully to the noose, to which Nanika's protests increase.

You must act! Save one and you've saved them all.

Alluka contemplates it momentarily. She finds adequate resolve and snaps her fingers; the duke, neck snapped, falls dead.

The crowd roars in confusion as the soldiers fumble with the dead nobleman. Seizing the opportunity, Alluka leaps to the open air with the force of magic behind hair. She conjures a path to the gallows and steps, seamlessly, on the unbroken nothingness. 

The onlookers begin to gape as she soars to the platform. Alluka pays them no mind and lands, with grace, on the wood. The young man looks to his savior wearily. She wraps a thin arm around his shoulders and, with another soundless incantation hyperbolizes her priestess robes in a flurry of extravagant hues.

Just as the soldiers raise their blades with cries of 'witch' and 'sorceror', Alluka's power darkens the afternoon sky as her dress warps into two great wings that burst with a kaleidoscope of undeniable majesty. 

And with that, she glides away, the man clutched tightly by her powerful arms.

-

His name is Zushi, and he is a martial artist, Alluka learns.

Her name is Alluka, and she is a witch instead of an angel, Zushi learns.

All that Nanika knows is of a new companion in wandering.

\---

It is Alluka's twenty-third birthday. 

She and Zushi walk carefully on a narrow path through a meadow. She won't allow them to walk on the road (that they never do) but she won't permit the trampling of flowers, either.

Just as they're almost upon the outskirts of the wood - a grove of tall, mourning trees in contrast to the amiable meadow - Zushi gasps and whirls around behind her.

Alluka turns to see, on the road above, a cavalry, lead by a royal stallion. The horse's silver mane mirrored that of its young rider. 

She doesn't have to look twice to know that he is currently lamenting the birthday of his long-lost sister.

The woman laughs, then pulls her lover into the safety of the trees. 

Nanika had once said that she preferred Killua to her because Killua spoiled her, and Nanika treated her like a person.

Alluka supposed that there was a time she had once needed her brother, but that time was long over, and the ruby-red amulet was all of him she needed.


End file.
